* * LEGLESS BIRDS.
Nothing is safe. It is recognized as impossible to take a dog for a walk in the country unless it is led or kept strictly to heel. Certainly as large a proportion as a quarter of the cats in many villages limp and show ugly wounds. Some of them have been released by the trappers, some few have dragged themselves loose. The dogs are usually strong enough to escape, and if hopelessly caught do not as a rule wound themselves so badly. The fact is a little surprising considering the general superiority of the cat in nerve control. Foxes often escape, sometimes with the trap fixed to the leg. I know of one case where a part of the leg of a fox, that had presumably carried away the trap, fell off from decay. The animal was watched for a long time, and in the sequel was shot, because being lame and unable to catch its most natural prey, the rat or the rabbit, it lived exclusively on poultry and birds' eggs.
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